The field of the invention relates generally to energy harvesting and, more particularly, to a tunable vibration energy harvester.
Energy harvesting is a process for use in recovering power that would otherwise be dissipated or lost in a system. For example, known energy harvesting may be used to obtain energy from light, heat, wind, vibrations, wave action, water currents, and the like. In many known systems, energy harvested may be used in conjunction with battery power to provide power to electronic devices.
Sensor assemblies are often used in industrial settings to monitor the condition of associated machinery and operations thereof. Known sensor assemblies are often battery-powered. However, labor costs associated with changing batteries on a regular basis may limit commercial viability of such sensor assemblies, especially if the sensors are in remote or inaccessible locations. Because of the limited lifetime of batteries, the limited ability to recycle the batteries, and the cost of frequent battery change-outs, it is desirable to improve sensor powering.